My wife, Anne C. Savage accompanied me and Christine Barry, owner of Blogging for Michigan, to the State of the State address on Wednesday. She was there, as were we, with media passes. However, her effort to actually do any photographing of the event was completely shut down by overly-aggressive security and what seems to be a clear effort by […]

Rick Snyder is the master of the “fake concession”. He takes money away from something, gives a little back and then paints it as a “concession”. It’s not. He did it on the Earned Income Tax credit in late April: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s proposed budget eliminates the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) which helps the working poor, especially those […]

If you missed my discussion on the Governor’s State of the State address on Tony Trupiano’s radio show and are interested in hearing it, the podcast can be found HERE.

After reading a number of disparaging comments on the Facebook page of First Shift with Tony Trupiano, aimed at the organizers of Michigan Rising (formerly known as the Committee to Recall Rick Snyder, CRRS), I thought it would be a good idea to dig deeper and sort out truth from fiction. I have a piece up today at A2Politico titled […]

Last night was the second State of the State address by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. Pundits around the state are weighing in on how shallow it was, with no specifics or new initiatives announced. Before I get into my analysis, it’s worth noting how difficult the Republicans made it for me, my wife Anne and Christine Barry from Blogging for […]

Tune into First Shift with Tony Trupiano this morning at 7 a.m. if you’d like to listen in on our conversation about last night’s State of the State address by Governor Rick Snyder. You can stream it live from his website or listen on the radio on 1310 AM, WDTW.

This afternoon is an anti-Emergency Manager law march on the home of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. Stop back regularly for photos and updates. Rick Snyder recall group Michigan Rising on the scene (along with media). Buses starting to roll in. Lots of ominous-looking black SUVs along the march route. Weird. 3:55 pm – The crowd gathers. Several hundred and its […]

I wrote recently how a recent audit of Benton Harbor’s finances revealed that they not only are not out of debt, they still have a sizable deficit. Michigan Citizen has more on this with interesting commentary from Detroit accountant Greg Frazier. What Frazier says suggests that Joe Harris, so-called savior of Benton Harbor, is actually a crappy accountant. “The issue […]

This morning I wrote about Perry schools being threatened with a state takeover, a city in a county with only 0.5% African Americans. They aren’t the only ones. Suttons Bay is in the “Pinky” of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The Suttons Bay school district is facing an Emergency Manager, as well. Superintendent Mike Murray says the district planned to get state […]

This is so damn patronizing. Flint Emergency Manager Michael Brown has issued an order restoring City Council meetings which he had previously cancelled. Here’s the agenda of the meetings (unless Brown modifies it): Call to Order by the Council President Roll Call by the City Clerk Pledge of Allegiance Presentation of Minutes Report by the Emergency Manager and/or his designee(s) […]

Much of the outrage about Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager law centers around its disparate impact on minority school districts and cities. But this law may be coming to city or school near you even if it’s not a so-called “majority minority” area. Take a look at the data that was assembled by Progress Michigan to see how obvious […]